Stephanie Grace: Crime-camera defendants have big worries

It's perfectly normal for those on the receiving end of a lawsuit to fret over appearances. Yet the defendants in the high-profile civil suit over New Orleans' crime camera contract aren't just concerned.

The Times-PicayuneFormer Chief Technology Officer Greg Meffert

They're worried. Very, very worried.

Former tech chief Greg Meffert, whose unholy financial relationship with a city vendor and status as the target of a related criminal probe came to light during pretrial maneuvering, is so worried that he wants the case moved to another venue.

The reason, according to Meffert attorney Randy Smith, is that "the tide of public opinion in his home parish has so turned against him that he cannot seek refuge in the hallowed halls of justice in that parish."

Meanwhile, an attorney for companies headed by that vendor, by old Meffert pal Mark St. Pierre, says his clients can't pay legal fees due to "business reversals associated with adverse publicity." Nor, for that matter, can Meffert, according to separate letter submitted by Smith.

The upshot is that attorneys for both plan to miss much of the three-week trial, and appear only for select portions such as opening and closing statements and testimony from key witnesses.

Lawyers for two other companies named as defendants, Ciber, Inc. and deep-pocketed industry giant Dell, Inc., are concerned about how that looks. They don't want jurors to read their presence throughout the proceedings as a sign that their clients played a greater role than those not represented full time by counsel.

They also worry that any association to Meffert and St. Pierre, who are both expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment, would taint them in jurors' minds, and have unsuccessfully sought separate trials.

OK, fair enough, as far as the courtroom goes.

All the defendants have a right to an unbiased jury, and it's Judge Rose Ledet's job to see they get one. Before jury selection opened on Monday, Ledet made it clear she takes their concerns seriously.

But much of what the public knows about the case comes not from plaintiffs seeking a big payday but from the defendants own company files.

As much as jilted contractors Active Solutions, LLC and Southern Electronics Supply, Inc. stand to benefit from the defendants' bad behavior, they couldn't have written this script if they'd tried.

It was St. Pierre, not his accusers, who gave Meffert use of a corporate credit while he was still receiving his six-figure City Hall salary.

That's not an allegation. It's fact. The card was in Meffert's name, although bills went to St. Pierre company NetMethods, LLC. Meffert famously used it to charge all manner of living expenses, including restaurant meals, home furnishings, car repairs, electronics, travel and strip clubs.

After Meffert left government, the credit card charges stopped, only to be replaced by a $67,000 a month consulting deal. That information, too, comes straight from company records made public during discovery.

And while unflattering details about Dell's behavior aren't nearly so dramatic, they too come from the company itself. Internal e-mails show officials with the tech giant schemed to bypass a state contract prohibiting it from selling crime cameras to New Orleans. Their idea was to simply change the name of their product to "surveillance module" or "eyeball."

While these well-publicized actions don't prove that anyone committed unfair trade practices, as the plaintiffs allege, they certainly make those involved seem sleazy and underhanded. In fact, based on what we know so far, the defendants in this case have good reason to worry about appearances.